From the Ballet to the Marine Corps - One Man's Journey

 

Few men have ever gone from being a professional ballet dancer to being a US Marine. I was one of them. This multimedia video tells my story: From the Ballet to the Marines

2024 is Smokey Bear's 80th Birthday Year!

By Robert Hudson Westover

It's been 15 year for me and my bear. 

15 years of being what many jokingly call me "Smokey Bear's PR man". 

But it's no joke. 

In fact, I have been honored to have played a significant role in getting the word out about Smokey's universal and timeless message of "Only You can Prevent Wildfires". 

Click here to see my interview all about Smokey Bear: Interview with Robert Westover

As a recipient of a Gold Smokey, our nation's preeminent fire prevention award called the Smokey Bear Award and first handed out by President Eisenhower in 1958, I know the importance of getting the word out to each new generation of kids. 

President Eisenhower holding a
Smokey Bear doll in the White House.

So let's all give Smokey Bear the BEST birthday gift of all this year by doing all we can to practice safe fire prevention methods while visiting the Great Outdoors! Click hear to learn what you can do to prevent wildfires: Only You

Learn about Smokey Bear's 80th by clicking here: Smokey Bear Turns 80! 

Dali and Picasso aren’t the only forged artists

Artists on the cusp of worldwide recognition can find themselves victims of stolen identity

By Robert Hudson Westover

During a recent Google search for an artist friend of mine (I own some of his works) I discovered something impressive and something disturbing. The impressive something was the artist, James Purpura, is on Getty Images.

No Small Feat...

Getty Images picture
of James Purpura 
(courtesy photo)

Having an image with Getty is basically saying you exist as a viable professional in your field, or you are a person of notoriety. James, at this point in his career, clearly falls into the former category but, possibly, not for very long.

I feel this because the disturbing something seemed innocuous enough—an ad from someone on eBay reselling one of James’ paintings. The first thing I found unusual was the price. At about $900 it seemed rather low as a Purpura painting often sells for many times that price. But what was most unusual was the art itself.

Those Colors...

If you know Purpura’s works you know how his use of color is mind bending unlike this portrait of a woman which, in my estimation, was so drab, so plain, and so grounded-in-reality, that it completely violated James’ philosophy of art: have the observer question reality.

An actual portrait by artist
James Purpura. Note the use
of color. (courtesy photo)

So, I contacted James and sure enough it wasn’t his work.

He was understandably upset. On a month’s long sabbatical in Palm Springs (so art guy like!), he would have to wait until returning to Paris to deal with these alleged forgers. Truth is the person(s) selling the Fake James may be victims themselves of the international market in forged works.

Maybe Not a Forgery?

The "Purpura" portrait 
in question. (courtesy photo)

And, of course, there is a small chance that another painter named James Purpura has a strikingly similar signature—anything is possible in the world of art.

Obviously, there will be more to follow (for sure) but for now I told James that this is a good thing: His name in the art world is prominent enough that even thieves want to cash in on him.

I think I might buy a couple more (real) Purpuras.

If you would like to see James Purpura’s reality challenging art, go to: https://www.singulart.com/en/artist/james-purpura-15851

My (unexpected) Journey to the Heart of Mary, Mother of Christ Jesus

This is the first article in series of an unintentional eight-year pilgrimage I took that led to my baptism in the Jordan River

By Robert Hudson Westover

Hundreds, no thousands of little white pieces of paper seemed to magically cling to the stones of the long wall with the occasional note falling off in the light breeze among the tall trees on this mountainside property.

With a modest stone built, two-room house and its very own artesian well providing water up a steep mountain (which seemed nearly impossible) this wasn’t any other property either in its location, on Mt. Koressos above the ruins of Ephesus, Turkey, or its purported former owner, Mary, the mother of Christ Jesus.

That’s right. The Virgin Mother, or as Catholic’s refer to her, Mary the Mother of God lived here.

And we, a gathering of folks from a cruise of Greece and Turkey, were unintentional guests. In fact, when exiting our cruise ship and boarding the bus as the sun rose over the small port town of Kusadasi, we thought we were going to see the ancient "ghost town" of Ephesus, once the third largest city in the Roman Empire. But our tour guide suggested we first visit the site of “Mother Mary” as the gates to enter the ruins of Ephesus had still not opened.

At the time I was not Catholic--the faith of my husband, Tom. However, Tom had no idea that this holy site even existed and was as surprised as me and our newest traveling friends, Randy and Charlotte, when told of the surprise stop.

As we entered the front approach to the house our tour guide pointed out the “miracle well” where Mary would have drawn water and said that the well "proved to be a powerful piece of evidence" that the property was indeed the site of Mary’s last earthly home. The reason being a nun in the late 19^th century. This nun had had a vision that this precise location in the mountains surrounding Ephesus was were Mary had been brought to live when John, the only disciple not to disavow Jesus during his trial and crucifixion, took Mary to protect her.

An ancient icon of Mary the Mother of Jesus. 
The blue cross on the left was purchased at
the House of the Virgin Mary, Turkey.
(Photo credit: Robert Westover

The Vatican Curia staffers are renowned for not jumping to conclusions on any subject, so it was decades before the site was investigated. The big hesitancy being: How could Mary live on a mountainside with no running water? 

Upon investigating, not only was an artesian well discovered, but so were the foundations of a two-room house.

I come from a family with a strong interest in history either for amateur or professional purposes. In both cases one learns to be skeptical of any claim even when recorded over centuries let alone one based on a vision. 

However, to be taken seriously, at least for historians, some clear proof needs to exist and with the case of both the well and the house, it’s about as much evidence as can ever be hoped for with a lost trail of records especially after the passage of nearly two millennia.  

So I began to accept that, indeed, this claim should be taken seriously and respected. So I did. I took the que from Tom and with great reverence walked through the rebuilt rooms of the home-now-shrine and watched Tom as he lit a candle in prayer. In fact, Tom’s piety inspired both Randy and me to do the same and three candles were lit in gardens just outside the “House of Mother Mary.”

As we excited the grounds of the shrine, we walked past the long wall of prayers. Looking at the hope, sadness, and devotion in the eyes of those, including Tom, who put a note in one of the many tiny crevasses I pulled from my pocket a little translucent blue cross I bought as we were walking into the compound, and I too said a prayer.

Little did I know but that day would begin a journey of mystical revelations of such profundity that I would humble ego, all that I had been raised to believe, all that I had rationally learned, and fall at the feet of God.